You remember how my mom loves Keane? She just sent me an email to say that Keane were the guests on Jo Whiley’s Live Lounge on Thursday and they did a mix of “Bootylicious” by Destiny’s Child and “Dirrty” by Xtina, which they dubbed “Dirrtylicious”.

You can listen to the track on Keane’s Myspace profile.

Nas‘s number one lady, superfly superstar Kelis, performed made an apperance at a jam-packed MisShapes tonight. When I first got there around 1am there was a line of well-dressed hipsters around the block, and the cops were inside busting underage kids and checking to see if the venue was overcrowded.

Hence NO ONE was getting in, not even some of the V magazine folks who were co-running the event. Not even the gay boy I briefly talked to who lamented that his handbag was inside, but wasn’t being allowed back in. Crazy!

I went to go get dinner at 1am, rolled back over to Don Hill’s at 2:30 and shook my little bootie a bit as Jackson spun some nice hip-hop music and Kelis sat behind her two enormous bodyguards.

What a great way to cap off the night!

I’ll be on tomorrow (TUESDAY) morning on Jo Whiley‘s lovely show on BBC Radio 1 talking about the latest trends in NYC.

Four words: SNAKES ON A PLANE

You’ve been warned.

Listen live (or when it’s archived) on the BBC Radio 1 site.

Come out and say hello Sunday! I’ll be DJing early.

Today I went to the premiere of Brothers of the Head, a new British movie showing at the IFC Film Center. The film is about Siamese twins who rise to fame as a punk band in the 1970s. It’s basically the story of what would happen if Carl Barat and Pete Doherty had been born with a shared liver and circulatory system.

The movie is definitely worth seeing, it’s not as amazing as some other fictional freak rock star movies (like Hedwig and the Angry Inch), but the music composed by Clive Langer that is played in the movie is well worth the price of admission. I became totally obsessed with all the original music performed in the movie that I’m dead set on getting the soundtrack.

I kinda wish this band, Bang Bang really existed because the music is great! “My Friend (You C—)” is truly an AMAZING song. If you love the Libertines/ The Clash/ etc, you will totally EAT UP this movie soundtrack. It’s really brilliant. You can check out some of the songs on the official Brothers of the Head web site.

Oh, and need I mention that the brothers that play the conjoined twins are TOTALLY HOT?? Here’s the proof of the Treadaway brother’s adorableness:

The Treadaways with the directors of Brothers, Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe…

Luke and…

Harry.

Remember these faces. Not only are these kids gonna be stars (Harry will be in the new Joy Division movie, Control, playing Stephen Morris…although he totally looks like Ian Curtis in that photo) but they have awesome taste in music, as revealed by the 7-song playlist they requested the MisShapes DJs to play during the afterparty.

Hellooooo The Kinks, Talking Heads, Joy Division, Thom Yorke, Lou Reed, Kings of Leon, David Bowie, and The Clash! Total classics.

Let’s hear it for the boys and to the success of their movie, which opens in NYC on Friday, July 28th.

WATCH: “2-Way Romeo” by Bang Bang

[Read "I Love Me Some Siren Festival: Part 1]

Last I left off, Ryan Jarman was bleeding while the Cribs were playing. I got super-excited when they busted into “Hey Scenesters!“, a blistering song about… well… vapid scenesters, which is one of my favorite songs of the moment–although there are so many levels of subtext and irony singing along to this song during Siren Festival, I’m not sure who the joke is on.

Luckily for my feet, Art Brut was up next on Stillwell Stage so I didn’t have to run back and forth across the boardwalk. I hung out and got some drinks, and while standing around I saw this ridiculous poster:

“Wait so let me get this straight–WHEN are the Misshapes Djing on Stillwell Stage? I mean I don’t want to run the risk of missing their set.”

It was like looking at Set Breakdown for Dummies.

I’m not exactly sure why, but I love Art Brut live. Sure, it’s basically the same inter-song banter and set list every time, but their live shows are never boring. I remember reading an article that stated that the reason Art Brut tour so much out of their native country of England is because they are not that popular in the UK and are thought of as a joke band. I couldn’t believe it! Is Art Brut the indie rock Bush of the ’00s? Loved in the US but reviled in the UK?

Anyway, Art Brut was no less than spectacularly fun. Lead singer Eddie Argos always has the most incredible energy–kicking up his shoe-less feet (below)…

…and jump roping with the microphone cord (below)…

…and of course, running into the audience. He scaled the crowd barricade and jumped into the group of concertgoers (below).

By the time “Good Weekend” rolled around, the crowd was whipped into a frenzy, with everyone passionately singing along (below).

Totally brilliant. Also during “Bang Bang Rock and Roll” Eddie decided to throw in Kimya Dawson and Jeffrey Lewis‘s names into the “[Name of Band] Top of the Pops!” chant. I wondered why, but when I went back to the VIP area after the end of Art Brut, I saw Jeffrey Lewis there, so I kinda understood it. Seeing as how Kimya Dawson is supposed to pop any day now, I’m assuming she wasn’t on hand and Eddie was just spreading the anti-folk love.

By this point in the day I’d been outdoors for about 7 hours straight, only ate one hot dog the entire day, and tried to stay hydrated. Luckily the entire day was pretty much overcast, so it wasn’t ungodly hot like all the other Siren Festivals I’ve been too. But there was one final act to go… the phenomenal Sissor Sisters on the Main Stage.

I couldn’t wait! Having already seen them shake their stuff at Bowery Ballroom earlier this year, I knew their act was going to turn this into the gayest Siren Festival ever! By the time I got to Main Stage She Wants Revenge had ended and the crew was setting up for the Sisters. MisShapes DJ Geordon grabbed me onstage to take a look at the ridiculous crowd–which stretched all the way to the subway! (below)

[Click for full-sized image]

–and I snapped a shot of Geo eating cotton candy and DJ Sammy Jo doing his DJ thing:

Right before the Scissor Sisters went on, they took some group photos…

…and gave each other some hugs…

before leaping onstage and rocking the crowd with their opening song (I think???) “Take Your Mama”…

They played all “the hits” like “Laura”, “Mary”, “Tits on the Radio”, alongside some new songs off their upcoming album. Most notably, when they tried to close their set with “I Don’t Feel Like Dancing,” the sound plug got pulled on them not once (during which they kept time with drums and…maracas!!) but TWICE (causing Ana Matronic to fall on the floor and pretend to be dead). By their third try at a finale, they opted for “Filthy/ Gorgeous” which had the crowd shaking their butts and shimmying their shoulders like they were in a Chelsea nightclub, and ended with “Music Is the Victim.”

Somewhere along the lines, Jake Shears stripped off not only his glittery tank top but also his pants, so several thousand people got to see him prance around stage in his navy blue briefs.

He did get bit with the modesty bug, and eventually grabbed a white towel to tie around his waist so for the last few songs everyone got a good idea of what it must look like when Jake Shears sings in his bathroom.

I think it was toward the very last song that Jake took the towel off again and was dancing when he started to play with his undies, as if he was going to take them off. I screamed in my head, “PLEASE, GOD NO! DO NOT TAKE THEM OFF!” because I feared all hell might break loose or someone’s head might have exploded due to the sheer amount of excitement that was pumping through the air.

The Scissors Sisters were the perfect band to round up this year’s fantastic festival. Their dedication to making their live show them most fun anyone could have is truly inspiring.

Seriously, it was the best Siren ever. See ya next year!

For more photos, check out my Flickr!

I was so excited to attend this year’s Village Voice Siren Festival due to the AMAZING lineup. So excited I was up and running at noon in order to meet up with Jeff and get to Coney Island right when the festival was going to start. Getting up and outside before 2pm is an unheard of activity for one of my weekends.

We got to Coney Island right on time, and straight out of the subway station we ran into Ben from Surefire. I was so happy because I’ve hung out with Ben at many a Siren Festival together, so it was good to follow tradition. I ended up heading over to the Stillwell stage around 1:30 to catch metal rockers from Montreal, Priestess.

Holy mother of God! During Priestess’s devil horn-inducing set of sheer rock noise, I spotted hipsters covering their ears left and right. Not because the band’s music was horrible, but because it was SO LOUD that you’d be a fool not to try to save your hearing. Check out these concerned concert-goers:

SOE! Save Our Ears!

On the way over to the Main Stage, I ran into my friend Greg, who was DJing at the Stillwell Stage all day long with his Misshapes cohort, Leigh. He gave me some Blue Steel while wearing his Alexander McQueen scarf:

While walking along the boardwalk, I saw Tapes ‘n Tapes being interviewed by a woman in a ridiculous tiara for New York Noise:

Finally made it over to see Brooklyn-based The Rogers Sisters, which shockingly not composed of all girls–bassist Miyuki Furtado is obviously not a sister in the biological sense.

During the midst of the set I glanced into the crowd and groaned a little when I saw THIS DUDE:

Yeah, that’s right. THAT DUDE WENT THERE. He’s sporting a Cobra Snake tshirt.

Around 2:30 I headed back to Stillwell Stage to catch some of the very kooky Man Man. Do you know how the saying for mullets goes, “business in the front, party in the back”? That perfectly describes Man Man‘s chaotic, frenetic set. As singer Honus Honus sat at the keyboard pounding away, his band members huddled around him like a back of wonderfully deranged mad scientists, tinkering away at their instruments, the stage filled with all sorts of unidentifiable knick-knacks and doo-dads.

Around 3pm and I was STARVING. So I got on line to get a hotdog at Nathan’s thinking I had plenty of time before Dirty on Purpose went on Stillwell Stage at 3:30. WRONG. When 3:30 rolled around and I heard the first song of DOP playing off 50 yards away, I was helplessly standing on the line as it lightly rained. I was so hungry and I’d already stood there for 30 minutes, I had to wait until I got my hot dog.

I finally got to order my dog around 3:50, and when the guy handed it to me, I mustarded up and BOLTED, running over with a hot dog in one hand, and my camera in the other–quite a sight to see. These are the types of quality shots you get while eating a beef weiner:

It was so great to see DOP doing their thing at such a huge event. They’ve come so far from the first time I saw them downstairs at the Knitting Factory in 2003. Congrats guys on rockin the fest!

Now that I finally had some food in my stomach (I didn’t eat breakfast–hey, I’m not used to waking up so early!) I could partake in some free beer courtesy of the VIP tent. I headed over to Main Stage to catch half a second of Tapes ‘n Tapes.

I stayed long enough to remember that the drummer wasn’t my favorite member of Tapes ‘n Tapes–it was the keyboardist / tuba player/ dude who does nothing that sorta looks like Hamilton from The Walkmen. “I totally forgot, HE’S my favorite!,” I exclaimed to everyone and no one, then I headed back to the free alcohol/ bathroom/ and shade–the trifecta of joy at Siren.

After a few minutes of that, I ran back over to Stillwell Stage to check out a Norwegian band I’d heard so much about, Serena Maneesh. Their brand of distortion rock and Pirates of the Caribbean-inspired outfits were.. uh.. interesting. I quickly realized that anyone who had told me I’d “really like Serena Maneesh” really meant I would “really not get Serena Maneesh”. I totally respect the decision of other people to like them, but they just were not for me. And it was freaking me out that they sorta looked like the long lost ragamuffin gypsy cousins of The Raveonettes. (Oh you KNOW that’s true!)

According to the photos I took, I must’ve ran back over to the Main Stage for some reason (I think to go to the bathroom) and I stopped and saw litterally 50 seconds of The Stills onstage before leaving because the pit was super crowded and I had to head BACK over to Stillwell to catch The Cribs at 5:30. BTW- I thought I remembered the lead singer of The Stills being super hot, what happened????

Anyway, back at Stillwell I was SO excited to see The Cribs. When I got there they had already played a song or two and my friend Cameron was FREAKING OUT the entire time because I guess he loves The Cribs something sick. I totally wigged out when they played “Hey Scenesters!” because that song is brilliant. It’s also the song that tells me I’ve been in Forever 21 too long because I’ve heard it twice.

If you’re unfamiliar with The Cribs, then I’m here to tell you that they sound like straight up pop rock. And they put so much into their live show… the term “sweat blood and tears” is not lost on them, seeing as how midway through the set Ryan Jarman started BLEEDING around his mouth. He must’ve knocked his lip something awful on his mic or something because I don’t recall anyone running up on stage and punching him in the face. I just remember watching and all of a sudden seeing bright red blood streaming down his chin. It was seriously a “what the HELL just happened” moment.

Now read Part 2 of the Siren Festival roundup…

Yeah yeah…I’ll be “DJing” aka- hitting “play” on the CD player and my iPod on Wednesday as part of the launch for the new site Haystack. Stop by and say hello! Here are the details:

Wednesday, July 19th
Haystack and Insound Present… @ Club Midway
Ave B between 2nd and 3rd
$7 at the door

8pm – Annie Lin
9pm – Arbor Day
10pm – Cavalier King
11pm – The Yards

Before the show you should definitely check out a FREE Sondre Lerche show that is going on at 7pm at Barnes and Noble as part of some “Upstairs at Union Square” author/musician series they are doing. And then after the show you can head over to Audrey‘s Calling All Kids at Saphire!

Oh btw- on Sondre Lerche, he’s got a new diary entry where he talks about getting beat up as a kid for wearing A-Ha tshirts and his philosophy on wearing eye shadow. Apparently photos of him from a magazine called The Book Los Angeles has caused quite a stir on his message boards, with some hailing his eyeshadow wearing as an indication of “selling out”.

His new entry explains that wearing a little makeup should never spell sell out to anyone. He’s got a point, when was the last time you saw a female pop star being lambasted for wearing some eyeshadow? Equal eyeshadow-wearing rights for all, I say! Besides, he looks hot! It’s fun to see him with a totally different look. Now if only we could get him to do a duet with Patrick Stump…my head would explode.

Seriously, if those kids think that photo is emobad, they should start reading my other site, So More Scene. Then they’ll realize there are far worse offenders than Sondre Lerche.

He also mentions some ultra-awesome girl at his label who gave him the A-Ha tshirt which he wore to the now infamous photo shoot. Wonder who THAT was! (PS- I don’t work for a record label, so don’t think it’s me!)

This year’s pre-Fourth of July Motherfucker bash included a performance by one of my favorite contemporary Brit bands, The Futureheads.

I am tired, so I’ll update this space with some more interesting commentary later…

For now, photos:

I also got to watch Amanda Lepore and her crew film a segment for David Casey‘s upcoming film about Motherfucker (which wrapped tonight) in the “interview” room. I LOVE Swedish fish, which I ate the entire time.

For more photos, check out Flickr.

Here are some links for you to check out that are related to some of the stuff I talked about on Jo Whiley’s show today:

Read more about Prince‘s show at Butter at Stereogum and Product Shop NYC. Get the blow-by-blow of the Lindsay Lohan/ Paris Hilton/ P Diddy scuffle.

View photos and learn more about my experience at the Keane show at NYC’s Bowery Ballroom.

Gonna be in NYC this summer? Here are some fun things I suggested doing:

Correction: Siren Fest is July 15th, not 17th (whoops!) in the neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY. This year’s lineup includes the Scissor Sisters and Art Brut. Best news is, the festival is FREE! Learn more about Astroland, the amusement park that houses the famous Cyclone roller coaster. And make sure to stop by Nathan’s for a world-famous hot dog.

Bryant Park Film Festival [Now thru August 21st] Last year people spotted Natalie Portman at a screening of The Way We Were at the film fest.

Visit Top of the Rock, an observation deck 70 stories above ground, and get spectacular views of Manhattan. Open 8:00 a.m. to midnight, 365 days a year with the last elevator going up at 11 p.m.

Shopping for shopping, Alife Rivington Club for the hippest sneaker store in town and Century 21 has the absolute best bargins on designer gear.